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Patient credit balance account analysis, overpayment reporting and recovery tools |
| 7606721 |
Patient credit balance account analysis, overpayment reporting and recovery tools
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| Patent Drawings: | |
| Inventor: |
Donnelly, et al. |
| Date Issued: |
October 20, 2009 |
| Application: |
10/356,094 |
| Filed: |
January 31, 2003 |
| Inventors: |
Donnelly; Patrick J. (Eldersburg, MD)
Donnelly; Jeffrey R. (Cockeysville, MD)
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| Assignee: |
CDR Associates, LLC (Timonium, MD) |
| Primary Examiner: |
Gilligan; C. Luke |
| Assistant Examiner: |
Porter; R. L. |
| Attorney Or Agent: |
Volpe and Koenig, P.C. |
| U.S. Class: |
705/2; 705/30; 705/40 |
| Field Of Search: |
705/2.3; 705/35 |
| International Class: |
G06Q 50/00; G06Q 40/00 |
| U.S Patent Documents: |
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| Foreign Patent Documents: |
60229234; WO0067168 |
| Other References: |
Anonymous "Credit Balances: Spotlighting a Little-Known Area of Risk and Opportunity," Jan. 2004, Healthcare Financial Management, vol. 58,No. 1, S1. cited by examiner.
IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin, vol. 29 No. 2, Jul. 1986, USA, Four Pages Cover Page, Page With Copy Right Notice, And pp. 855-856. cited by other.
James E. Massey, entitled: "Formula for Analyzing Accounts Receivable Management Performance", Topics and Presentations, Sep. 20, 2002, pp. 1-3. cited by other. |
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| Abstract: |
The present invention provides a system for managing, analyzing and reporting accounts of overpaid claims for patient balance accounts, although various components and features of the system are inventions into themselves. Certain aspects of the inventor allow managers of both service providers (such as health care facilities) and payers (such as insurance companies and Medicare) to assign work and produce reports. Other aspects of the invention allow provider users and payer users to analyze and resolve the claims in an automated environment. These aspects provide the users with information in a readily accessible and easy to navigate format. The users are also provided with tools for analyzing the claims in an automated manner. |
| Claim: |
What is claimed is:
1. A method for determining possible resolutions of patient credit balance accounts, wherein patient credit balance accounts are accounts on a service provider's accountsreceivable having financial transactions including cash payments and contractual allowances in excess of total charges and the patient credit balance accounts including information relating to services provided to a patient and accumulation of chargesassociated with the service, the method comprising: inputting, for use by a processing device, the patient credit balance accounts and financial transactions associated with the patient credit balance accounts; identifying, by the processing device,criteria associated with possible resolutions to the patient credit balance accounts in response to the inputted financial transactions; and determining, by the processing device, possible resolutions for the patient credit balance accounts based on theidentified criteria; wherein each of the possible resolutions is associated with a resolvable error for a corresponding patient credit balance account which facilitates resolving the corresponding patient credit balance account, wherein one of thedetermined possible resolutions being an allowance error and wherein the allowance error is based on the identified criteria including accounts having duplicate adjustments, adjustments equal to the account balance, no payments in an account andadjustments in an account equaling an inverse of total charges of the account.
2. The method of claim 1 further comprising categorizing each patient credit balance account by determining a difficulty level in resolving that patient credit balance account by its determined possible resolution, each patient credit balanceaccount is assigned a numeric value indicating its difficulty level in resolving.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein one of the criteria is duplicate payments associated with the patient credit balance account.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein one of the criteria is a payment equaling a balance of the patient credit balance account.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein one of the criteria is a payment being associated with the patient credit balance account.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein one of the criteria is only a single payment being associated with the patient credit balance account.
7. The method of claim 1 wherein one of the criteria being a patient payment being greater than or equal to an account balance.
8. The method of claim 1 wherein one of the criteria being matching credit and debit account balances being associated with the patient credit balance account.
9. The method of claim 1 wherein one of the criteria being an open debit account balance being associated with a same patient of the account.
10. The method of claim 1 wherein one of the determined possible resolutions being a patient overpayment.
11. The method of claim 10 wherein the patient overpayment criteria includes accounts having a patient payment greater than or equal to a balance of the account.
12. The method of claim 1 further comprising flagging the patient credit balance accounts when being identified as having Medicare payments.
13. The method of claim 12 wherein the identifying Medicare payments includes reviewing a service code or payments to determine whether the payment is a Medicare payment.
14. The method of claim 1 further comprising inputting, for use by the processing device, information associated with the credit balance accounts; wherein the step of identifying criteria is based on the inputted financial transactions and theinputted related accounts information.
15. The method of claim 1 further comprising outputting, by the processing device, the determined possible resolutions.
16. A method for determining a possible solution for a patient credit balance account, wherein the patient credit balance account is an account on a service provider's accounts receivable having financial transactions including cash paymentsand contractual allowances in excess of total charges and the patient credit balance accounts including information relating to services provided to a patient and accumulation of charges associated with the service, the method comprising: providing, foruse by a processing device, a patient credit balance account and financial transaction information associated with the patient credit balance account; analyzing, by the processing device, the patient credit balance account and the financial transactioninformation to determine which criteria out of a set of criteria is associated with the patient credit balance account and the financial transaction information; and deciding, by the processing device, a possible resolution for the patient creditbalance account based on the analyzed criteria, wherein the possible resolution is from a set of possible resolutions and one of the set of possible resolutions being an allowance error and wherein the allowance error is based on the determined criteriaincluding accounts having duplicate adjustments, adjustments equal to the account balance, no payments in an account and adjustments in an account equaling an inverse of total charges of the account.
17. The method of claim 16 further comprising categorizing each patient credit balance account by determining a difficulty level in resolving that patient credit balance account by its determined possible resolution, each patient credit balanceaccount is assigned a numeric value indicating its difficulty level in resolving.
18. The method of claim 16 wherein one of the set of criteria is duplicate payments associated with the patient credit balance account.
19. The method of claim 16 wherein one of the set of criteria is a payment equaling a balance of the patient credit balance account.
20. The method of claim 16 wherein one of the set of criteria is a payment being associated with the patient credit balance account.
21. The method of claim 16 wherein one of the set of criteria is only a single payment being associated with the patient credit balance account.
22. The method of claim 16 wherein one of the set of criteria being a patient payment being greater than or equal to an account balance.
23. The method of claim 16 wherein one of the set of criteria being matching credit and debit account balances being associated with the patient credit balance account.
24. The method of claim 16 wherein one of the set of criteria being an open debit account balance being associated with a same patient of the account.
25. The method of claim 16 wherein the possible solution is from a set of possible solutions and one of the set of possible solutions being a patient overpayment.
26. The method of claim 25 wherein the patient overpayment criteria includes accounts having a patient payment greater than or equal to a balance of the account.
27. The method of claim 16 further comprising flagging the patient credit balance account when being identified as having Medicare payments.
28. The method of claim 27 wherein the identifying Medicare payments includes reviewing a service code or payments to determine whether the payment is a Medicare payment.
29. The method of claim 16 further comprising providing, for use by the processing device, information associated with accounts related to the credit balance accounts; wherein the step of analyzing the patient credit balance accounts uses theinputted financial transactions and the inputted related accounts information.
30. The method of claim 16 further comprising outputting, by the processing device, the determined possible resolutions.
31. A system for determining possible resolutions of patient credit balance accounts, wherein patient credit balance accounts are accounts on a service provider's accounts receivable having financial transactions including cash payments andcontractual allowances in excess of total charges and the patient credit balance accounts including information relating to services provided to a patient and accumulation of charges associated with the service, the system comprising: an input forreceiving the patient credit balance accounts and financial transactions associated with the patient credit balance accounts; and a processing device and associated software for identifying criteria associated with possible resolutions to the patientcredit balance accounts in response to the inputted financial transactions and for determining possible resolutions for the patient credit balance accounts based on the identified criteria; wherein each of the possible resolutions is associated with aresolvable error for a corresponding patient credit balance account which facilitates resolving the corresponding patient credit balance account, wherein one of the determined possible resolutions being an allowance error and wherein the processingdevice and associated software in evaluating the allowance error checks for the identified criteria including accounts having duplicate adjustments, adjustments equal to the account balance, no payments in an account and adjustments in an accountequaling an inverse of total charges of the account.
32. The system of claim 31 wherein the processing device and associated software categorizes each patient credit balance account by determining a difficulty level in resolving that patient credit balance account by its determined possibleresolution, each patient credit balance account is assigned a numeric value indicating its difficulty level in resolving.
33. The system of claim 31 wherein one of the criteria is duplicate payments associated with the patient credit balance account.
34. The system of claim 31 wherein one of the criteria is a payment equaling a balance of the patient credit balance account.
35. The system of claim 31 wherein one of the criteria is a payment being associated with the patient credit balance account.
36. The system of claim 31 wherein one of the criteria is only a single payment being associated with the patient credit balance account.
37. The system of claim 31 wherein one of the criteria being a patient payment being greater than or equal to an account balance.
38. The system of claim 31 wherein one of the criteria being matching credit and debit account balances being associated with the patient credit balance account.
39. The system of claim 31 wherein one of the criteria being an open debit account balance being associated with a same patient of the account.
40. The system of claim 31 wherein one of the determined possible resolutions being a patient overpayment.
41. The system of claim 40 wherein the processing device and associated software in evaluating the patient overpayment criteria checks for accounts having a patient payment greater than or equal to a balance of the account.
42. The system of claim 31 wherein the processing device and associated software flags the patient credit balance accounts when being identified as having Medicare payments.
43. The system of claim 42 wherein the processing device and associated software identifies the Medicare payments by reviewing a service code or payments to determine whether the payment is a Medicare payment.
44. The system of claim 31 wherein the input is configured to receive information associated with the credit balance accounts; wherein the identifying criteria is based on the inputted financial transactions and the inputted related accountsinformation.
45. The system of claim 31 wherein the processing device and associated software outputs the determined possible resolutions.
46. A system for determining a possible resolution for a patient credit balance account, wherein the patient credit balance account is an account on a service provider's accounts receivable having financial transactions including cash paymentsand contractual allowances in excess of total charges and the patient credit balance accounts including information relating to services provided to a patient and accumulation of charges associated with the service, the system comprising: an input forreceiving a patient credit balance account and financial transaction information associated with the patient credit balance account; and the server device and associated software for analyzing the patient credit balance account and the financialtransaction information to determine which criteria out of a set of criteria is associated with possible resolutions to the patient credit balance account and the financial transaction information and deciding a possible resolution for the patient creditbalance account based on the analyzed criteria, wherein one of the decided possible resolutions being an allowance error and wherein the server device and associated software in evaluating the allowance error checks for analyzed criteria including atleast one of accounts having duplicate adjustments, adjustments equal to the account balance, no payments in an account and adjustments in an account equaling an inverse of total charges of the account.
47. The system of claim 46 wherein the server device and associated software categorizes each patient credit balance account by determining a difficulty level in resolving that patient credit balance account by its decided possible resolution,each patient credit balance account is assigned a numeric value indicating its difficulty level in resolving.
48. The system of claim 46 wherein one of the criteria is duplicate payments associated with the patient credit balance account.
49. The system of claim 46 wherein one of the criteria is a payment equaling a balance of the patient credit balance account.
50. The system of claim 46 wherein one of the criteria is a payment being associated with the patient credit balance account.
51. The system of claim 46 wherein one of the criteria is only a single payment being associated with the patient credit balance account.
52. The system of claim 46 wherein one of the criteria being a patient payment being greater than or equal to an account balance.
53. The system of claim 46 wherein one of the criteria being matching credit and debit account balances being associated with the patient credit balance account.
54. The system of claim 46 wherein one of the criteria being an open debit account balance being associated with a same patient of the account.
55. The system of claim 46 wherein one of the decided possible resolutions being a patient overpayment.
56. The system of claim 55 wherein the server device and associated software in evaluating the patient overpayment criteria checks for accounts having a patient payment greater than or equal to a balance of the account.
57. The system of claim 46 wherein the server device and associated software flags the patient credit balance accounts when being identified as having Medicare payments.
58. The system of claim 57 wherein the server device and associated software identifies the Medicare payments by reviewing a service code or payments to determine whether the payment is a Medicare payment.
59. The system of claim 46 wherein the input is configured to receive information associated with the credit balance accounts; wherein the analyzing the patient credit balance accounts is based on the inputted financial transactions and theinputted related accounts information.
60. The system of claim 46 wherein the server device and associated software outputs the decided possible resolutions. |
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